PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to provide basic data to improve the service life of asphalt pavement using basalt aggregate in Jeju Island by evaluating the performance of asphalt pavement through analysis of material and structural aspects. METHODS : To evaluate the performance of Jeju Island's asphalt pavement, cracks, permanent deformation, and longitudinal roughness were analyzed for the Aejo-ro road, which has high traffic and frequent premature damage. Cores were collected from Aejo-ro sections in good condition and damaged condition, and the physical properties of each layer were compared and analyzed. In addition, plate cores were collected from two sections with severe damage and the cause of pavement damage was analyzed in detail. RESULTS : About 45% of the collected cores suffered damage such as layer separation and damage to the lower layer. The asphalt content of surface layer in the damaged section was found to be 1.1% lower on average than that in the good condition section, and the mix gradations generally satisfied the standards. The density difference between the cores of each layer was found to be quite large, and the air voids was found to be at a high level. CONCLUSIONS : Test results on the cores showed that, considering the high absorption ratio of basalt aggregate, the asphalt content was generally low, and the high air voids of the pavement was believed to have had a significant impact on damage. High air voids in asphalt pavement can be caused by poor mixture itself, poor construction management, or a combination of the two factors. Additionally, the separation of each layer is believed to be the cause of premature failure of asphalt pavement.

PURPOSES : This study is aimed to economic analysis of the ferronickel slag pavement method carried out to suggest the necessity of developing ferronickel slag pavement technology. METHODS : A life cycle cost analysis of the application of the Ferronickel Slag pavement method and the cutting + overlay pavement method was performed to compare the economic indicators and greenhouse gas emissions for each pavement method. RESULTS : As a result of the analysis, regardless of the Ferronickel Slag mixing rate, if the common performance of the Ferronickel Slag pavement method is the same or superior to the existing pavement method, it is more economical than the existing pavement method. Furthermore, the lower the maintenance cost of the Ferronickel Slag pavement method, the higher the economic feasibility due to the high Ferronickel Slag mixing rate. Greenhouse gas emissions can be reduced from at least 9% to up to 53% through the application of the Ferronickel Slag pavement method, except for some scenario analysis results. CONCLUSIONS : This study provided that the Ferronickel Slag pavement method was superior to the existing pavement method in terms of economic and environmental aspects. Therefore, it was found that the objective justification of developing road pavement technology using Ferronickel Slag was secured.

PURPOSES : The evaluation of the low-temperature performance of an asphalt mixture is crucial for mitigating transverse thermal cracking and preventing traffic accidents on expressways. Engineers in pavement agencies must identify and verify the pavement sections that require urgent management. In early 2000, the research division of the Korea Expressway Corporation developed a three-dimensional (3D) pavement condition monitoring profiler vehicle (3DPM) and an advanced infographic (AIG) highway pavement management system computer program. Owing to these efforts, the management of the entire expressway network has become more precise, effective, and efficient. However, current 3DPM and AIG technologies focus only on the pavement surface and not on the entire pavement layer. Over the years, along with monitoring, further strengthening and verification of the feasibility of current 3DPM and AIG technologies by performing extensive mechanical tests and data analyses have been recommended. METHODS : First, the pavement section that required urgent care was selected using the 3DPM and AIG approaches. Second, asphalt mixture cores were acquired from the specified section, and a low-temperature fracture test, semi- circular bending (SCB) test, was performed. The mechanical parameters, energy-release rate, and fracture toughness were computed and compared. RESULTS : As expected, the asphalt mixture cores acquired from the specified pavement section ( poor condition – bad section) exhibited negative fracture performances compared to the control section (good section). CONCLUSIONS : The current 3DPM and AIG approaches in KEC can successfully evaluate and analyze selected pavement conditions. However, more extensive experimental studies and mathematical analyses are required to further strengthen and upgrade current pavement analysis approaches.

PURPOSES : The numeric-based Highway Pavement Management System (HPMS), along with an advanced three-dimensional pavement condition monitoring profiler vehicle (3DPM), in South Korea has presented remarkable advancements in pavement management since the early 2000. Based on these results, visual distress on pavement surfaces can be easily detected and analyzed. Additionally, the entire expressway pavement surface conditions in South Korea can be easily monitored using the current graphical user interface-based advanced information graphic (AIG) approach. Therefore, a critically negative pavement section can be detected and managed more easily and efficiently. However, the actual mechanical performance of the selected pavement layer still needs to be investigated in a more thorough manner not only to provide more accurate pavement performance results but also to verify the feasibility of the current 3DPM and AIG approaches. In this study, the low-temperature performance of the selected asphalt pavement layer section was evaluated to further verify and strengthen the feasibility of the current 3DPM and AIG approaches developed by the Korea Expressway Corporation. METHODS : Based on 3DPM and AIG approach, the positive and negative-riding-quality road sections were selected, respectively. The asphalt material cores were extracted from each section then bending beam rheometer mixture creep test was performed to measure their low-temperature properties. Based on the experimental results, thermal stress results were computed and visually compared. RESULTS : As expected, the asphalt material from the negative driving performance section presented a poorer low-temperature cracking resistance than that from the positive driving performance section. CONCLUSIONS : Current 3DPM equipment can successfully evaluate expressway surface conditions and the corresponding material performance quality. However, more extensive experimental studies are recommended to verify and strengthen the findings of this study

PURPOSES : The type and degree of structural conditions and influencing factors distributed across representative sections should be similar to those distributed across entire sections as the representative sections have been predominantly used for developing performance prediction models, which substitute entire sections of road pavement. Therefore, a logic that selects the representative sections with similar distributions of structural conditions and the influencing factors with those of entire expressway asphalt pavement sections requires development. METHODS : The logic developed in this study to select the representative sections of asphalt pavements comprised three steps. First, the data on the structural conditions of the pavement and the influencing climate conditions and pavement materials were collected and organized. Consequently, in the second step, the candidate sections were selected, with the severity of the structural conditions of the pavement distributed widely and evenly. Finally, in addition to the widely and evenly distributed pavement conditions, the representative sections with climatic conditions and pavement materials were selected. RESULTS : A total of 6,352 ordinary asphalt pavement sections and 596 composite asphalt pavement sections were selected as entire expressway asphalt pavement sections and the data were collected and organized according to the logic developed in this study. Three times the representation sections were selected as candidate sections and, finally, 85 sections were selected as representative sections. The distribution of structural conditions and influencing climate conditions and pavement materials in the representative sections were similar to those in the entire sections. In addition, the representative sections were spread evenly across the country. CONCLUSIONS : The sections presenting similar distributions of structural conditions and the influencing factors of entire expressway asphalt pavement sections could be selected in this study. Using the representative sections selected in this study, a remodeling index model will be developed for predicting the asphalt pavement sections that require large-scale repair.

PURPOSES : The purpose of this study is to evaluate the performance characteristics of stone mastic asphalt (SMA) pavement by comparison with polymer modified asphalt (PMA) pavement and conventional asphalt pavement, to check the performance characteristics according to the pavement type, pavement materials, traffic volume, and environmental factors and to analyze the quality variation characteristics according to the pavement materials using data extracted from the database of the expressway long-term pavement performance. METHODS : Approximately 10% outlier data of pavement performance data were excluded in order to increase the reliability of the analysis results before evaluating the asphalt pavement performance. The performance model was developed through linear regression analysis by setting the performance period as the independent variable and the highway pavement condition index (HPCI) as the dependent variable. Descriptive statistic analysis of HPCI using the static package for social science (SPSS) tool and the analysis of variance was performed to identify the quality variation characteristics according to the pavement materials. The amount of de-icing agent and traffic level of service were classified as two levels in order to check the influence of traffic volume and environmental factors on the performance characteristics of the asphalt pavement. RESULTS : The tentative pavement performance lives were calculated at 19.3 years for new the SMA pavement (GPS-2), 14.3 years for the SMA overlay on the asphalt pavement (GPS-6), and 10.3 years for the SMA overlay on the concrete pavement (GPS-7). In case of the asphalt overlay, the tentative performance lives were calculated at 8.2 years for the PMA overlay on the asphalt pavement (GPS-6), 7.2 years for the PMA overlay on the concrete pavement (GPS-7), 7.2 years for the conventional asphalt overlay on the asphalt pavement (GPS-6), and 5.5 years for the conventional asphalt overlay on the concrete pavement (GPS-7). CONCLUSIONS : It was confirmed that the SMA pavement showed better performance and quality variation characteristics than the PMA and conventional asphalt pavement. The performance characteristics of the asphalt pavement (GPS-2) was better than the asphalt overlay pavement, and the asphalt overlay on the asphalt pavement (GPS-6) had better performance characteristics than the asphalt overlay on the concrete pavement (GPS-7). It was observed that the asphalt overlay on the asphalt pavement (GPS-6) was strongly influenced by the traffic volume and the asphalt overlay on concrete pavement (GPS-7) was strongly influenced by the traffic volume and de-icing agent.

PURPOSES: Investigating road pavement conditions using an investigation vehicle is challenging especially if repeated driving is required on the by-lane, and the traffic in the investigation section is heavy. A technology used to investigate the road pavement conditions is studied herein using image data obtained by drone photography. METHODS : Flight plans were made for the survey areas, and ground control point measurements were performed. The research section was filmed using drones. The acquired image data were modeled using Pix4Dmapper. The images taken by the drones were used to investigate the road pavement cracks. A digital surface model was extracted from the Pix4Dmapper modeling results using the Global Mapper program to investigate plastic deformation and flatness. As regards plastic deformation, the elevation of each point was extracted at intervals of 50 cm and 10 cm in the longitudinal and lateral directions, respectively, for 20 m× 10 m of the entire road. In terms of flatness, the elevation values for each point were extracted at intervals of 5 cm and 10 cm for the wheel path and 20 m for the entire roadway. RESULTS: This study compared drone-captured images, which were consistent, and vehicle scan images and confirmed that the former can detect a large number of cracks on road surfaces. The results showing the difference in the elevation values of the road surface indicate that the section, wherein the plastic deformation occurs throughout the entire road surface, can be identified and evaluated. With regard to flatness, in future studies, the long-directional elevation value of the target segment extracted using Global Mapper is likely to be derived from the International roughness index, which is the international flatness index used in the ProVAL program developed and used by the Federal Highway Administration. CONCLUSIONS : The road pavement status investigation conducted herein by utilizing drone-acquired images showed that repeated driving in a section is not required, and various analyses can be made in a single shot. If technologies, such as artificial intelligence, big data, and Internet of Things, which are the key components of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, are adapted, they can be used to investigate road pavement conditions and inspect completely constructed road lines and major road facilities.